Computer vision–based automatic rod-insulator defect detection in high-speed railway catenary system:

Maintenance of catenary system is a crucial task for the safe operation of high-speed railway systems. Catenary system malfunction could interrupt railway service and threaten public safety. This article presents a computer vision algorithm that is developed to automatically detect the defective rod-insulators in a catenary system to ensure reliable power transmission. Two key challenges in building such a robust inspection system are addressed in this work, the detection of the insulators in the catenary image and the detection of possible defects. A two-step insulator detection method is implemented to detect insulators with different inclination angles in the image. The sub-images containing cantilevers and rods are first extracted from the catenary image. Then, the insulators are detected in the sub-image using deformable part models. A local intensity period estimation algorithm is designed specifically for insulator defect detection. Experimental results show that the proposed method is able to auto...